When Hedgie arrived at the Forsythe home, he was afraid of everything.

Mindy, his mom, said he was tied down his whole puppyhood and he never received any love from his previous owners.

He didn’t trust humans

He just hid under the table. Mindy and her son, Mason, had been looking to adopt a dog but had never found the “right one.”

“All these dogs that we were looking at before weren’t really saying anything until we found him,” Mason shared. “I knew he was the dog I wanted or was meant for me.”

But on Hedgie’s first night at his new home, he was so scared and sad.

The sleeping arrangement

Mason decided Hedgie was going to sleep with him in his bedroom that night. And that’s what he did.

He carried Hedgie to his bedroom where they both stayed the whole night.

In the morning, they woke up to a different dog.

It was still Hedgie, but he was so different from that dog just the night before.

Mindy didn’t know what happened the night before but Hedgie and Mason are now so connected with each other.

Hedgie won’t leave Mason’s side now.

They were joined at the hip.

If Mason is doing homework, Hedgie would be on his bed and wait for him to finish.

And they slept together on Mason’s twin bed, which is hard for Mason because Hedgie is a big dog and he kicks in his sleep.

Mindy used to worry that when they got a dog, she would be taking care of all of the dirty stuff.

Her son’s 15 and 15-year-old boys are not known to be that responsible. But Mason really surprised her.

He has cared for Hedgie in every way.

And when Hedgie was diagnosed with a condition called megaesophagus, Mason made sure to take care of Hedgie and his needs and just be there to love him.

“Megaesophagus is a combination disorder in which the esophagus (the tube that carries food and liquid between the mouth and stomach) dilates (gets larger) and loses motility (its ability to move food into the stomach). When esophageal motility is decreased or absent, food and liquid accumulate in the esophagus and have difficulty getting into the stomach,” VCA Hospital explained.

They realized something was wrong when Hedgie couldn’t eat and walk.

Other vets would suggest dogs with this condition be put down. But that wasn’t an option for Mindy and Mason.

They were going to continue to give him the best life possible.

And one of the treatments they could do is to make sure that the food Hedgie eats goes to his stomach so he doesn’t get malnourished.

Feeding Hedgie

At first, Hedgie would prop himself up on a chair while Mason handfed him his food.

Hedgie needed to be in an upright position, around 45 to 90 degrees to the floor, to make sure that his food goes to his stomach.

But they were able to upgrade to a “Bailey chair”, which props Hedgie up to the right position for eating.

And Hedgie always waits for Mason to give him his food to eat.

He won’t eat unless Mason is giving him his food.

Mason and Hedgie are best friends.

They care about each other a lot and they’re always together.

It’s like they were waiting for each other to enter their lives.

See Hedgie show off what he’s’ learned from Mason in the video below!

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Source: YouTube – The Dodo, Paw my Gosh, VCA Hospital